For the past few weeks I've been waiting for our new toys to come in and yesterday they finally arrived!

Ok so you're prooobably thinking..."uh ok?!"  And yeah I guess Lauren's right when she says I'm a big nerd. Anyway, so what are these?  Have you ever heard of Pocket Wizards?  Remember our post on OCl or Off Camera Lighting?  These are what you use to remotely trigger your flashes or even remotely trigger your camera!  The best part is these are a 3rd of the price!  Not only that but they're super small and compact.  Definitely something you want especially when you're traveling shooting weddings.  Here's a shot I took last night at 3:30am (yeah that AM, not PM).  I put one of our compact flash cards in between the two just to show you how small they actually are.  And if you're wondering, the small one is the transmitter (goes on the hot shoe of your camera) and the larger one is the receiver (connects to your flash).

These are starting to get super hot and photographers all over are picking them up so if you're interested, it'll take at least 2-3 weeks to receive them.  To check them out just to the Alien Bees website. If you're starting to get into lighting (which by the way, is amazingly fun to play with) these are a must have! Speaking of a must have...if you're a bride to be, meet Red5Studios...one of the top talents in Wedding Cinematography. This past weekend, Loyd, our good friend from Red5Studios asked us to do a last minute portrait session for them for a special project that'll be revealed at a later time. So we threw around some ideas and we ended up, believe it or not at an empty movie theatre parking lot!  How fitting =) Why?  Well Loyd has this amazing talent that puts Brides and Grooms, their Wedding Party and even family into their favorite movie with a Wedding twist.  For this reason (and more) Bride and Groom’s all over the country contact Red5Studios.  They put you (the Bride and Groom) into your own short film…you decide on the movie, Loyd studies it, scripts it and then with you and your cast (ie Bridal Party/Family Members), he literally films it! If you have a few minutes, you HAVE to check this out...it's probably the funniest video I've seen them do yet.  It's their "wedding twist" version of Napoleon Dynamite that won the Ruby Award in the Concept Video production category at Video '08. Here's one of our favorite pics from our Saturday shoot...

On Sunday, we had the second half of our shoot.  Loyd wanted to capture a make shift production photo and for me, new territory.  Usually prior to a shoot, I/we envision how we want the shoot to go but for this type of a shot with five people! it was a challenge.  We ended up in my garage, something Loyd actually loved because it gave it that "home made video" type of look to it and after an hour or so of figuring out lighting, positioning, and going back and fourth examining each shot, I finally nailed it!  I finally got the shot I wanted!  It was pretty exciting because after about 50 or so shots, I knew as soon as I shot it, that was what we were looking for. It's amazing what one flash and a reflector can do for you in a cramped and dark home garage! =)

Thanks Red5Studios for picking us for your shoot!  We had a blast shooting it! I'll post more of our favorites later this week so stay tuned =) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Don't forget!  Our "Great Names Derive from Great Inspiration" contest deadline has been moved!!  The new deadline to submit your entries is now October 1st.  That gives everyone a good two months of inspiration! =)

If you want more information on our contest click here!

For our latest Wedding Day Slideshow, Click Here!

If you'd like to inquire about our services, email us at Weddings@johnlauren.com

If you have any questions you'd like to ask us, we'll do our best in answering them for you!  email us at John@johnlauren.com or Lauren@johnlauren.com

I know I said I'd write about Aperture today but I'll save that next week I promise!  Today I thought I'd leave you with our crazy night last night and a little as Me Ra likes to put it, "personal reflection"  Sorry no photos in this one, just some good ole' story telling. For the longest time now, Lauren and I have been talking about getting a new car for multiple reasons...many of which I'd say are just as weighty as the reasons why your 4 year old NEEDS a new Xbox 360 =) No, this isn't about our story at the dealership buy our new car...it's actually quite opposite really. On the way to see my sister, driving down the 71 freeway and just as we start laughing about how our car is starting to sound really scary and how I'm going to get an oil change this weekend...it actually start to make this really loud and even scarier sound.  "uhhhh, that doesn't sound good hunny!"  yeah that's me telling Lauren that, not vice versa =)  So I start to ease my way over, mind you, the sound is getting worse by the millisecond and I look in my rear view mirror and see smoke and something literally fall from the car!! Can you believe it?!!  I have a pregnant wife in here and our car is literally falling apart right before my eyes!  Then right as we finally get over to the shoulder..OF THE FREEWAY!! smoke starts seeping out of the hood!!  Definitely not a good thing...not at all!  I knew this was bad but just how bad?...you'll see. Oh and get this, here's the funny thing about all this happening.     So there we were pulled over on the side of the freeway and I look up and notice that the sun was setting and the sky was changing color!  First thing I thought of..."where's my camera!".  I have the sky above me a zillion different colors, cars zooming by and...it's the perfect photo opportunity and guess what..WE DIDN'T HAVE OUR CAMERA!!! NOT ONE!  That seriously was a perfect situation for shutter speed and longer exposure type images!! Talk about a missed opportunity!...a shot i've been walking to do for who knows how long and I missed it!  I WAS SOOO BUMMED!  Which reminds me, next week I'll post one of my favorite photos we took while in New York walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.  I'll show you the effect i'm talking about with the slow shutter speed and all. Moving on.. So we get picked up by the Tow Truck and decide to just drop the car in front of our house until we know what our next move will be.  So how bad is the damage?  Well with the help of my trusty neighbor we pop the hood open and get this...THERE'S A HOLE IN THE ENGINE!  not only that, but we find big metal fragments from the engine casing! which, btw I think I'll be keeping as a souvenir.  That's how bad it is =( Talk about a crazy night! Anyway, it may not sound like it, but having this happen was actually a blessing in disguise.  Without getting too deep into it with details and all,  the best part about it, is it's brought Lauren and I closer already.  God has a funny way of doing that sometimes.  He takes things away to put something better in it's place.  We may not see that "something better" right away, but if we wait patiently enough, you'll see it in some form or another.  It also brought me to reminisce about when Lauren and I got married.  We thought "how the heck are we going to pay for this wedding?!!"  Over a year later, we talk about having almost the most perfect wedding we could've asked for. For all our Bride-to-Be's worried about their big day and even for anyone that might be worrying about tomorrow...here's a Truth that Lauren and I love.  Have a great weekend everyone! Matthew 6:25-34 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

When we finally decided on a date to go to the fair I was pretty excited, not just for the ginormous Turkey Legs or Funnel Cakes but because at fairs, there's tons of vibrant color and lights galore!  It was the perfect place work on changing my cameras Shutter Speed and Aperture resulting in different looks depending on what I wanted to capture! I know there a handful of our blog readers that own SLR cameras and love taking photos so I thought this would be a great exercise for you that's super easy to apply =) The other day while Richelle and I were talking about a shot she tried to get of one of the rides from the fair, she says "I wanted to get that blurry look of the ride in motion but I couldn't remember what setting to change in my camera to do it!" She ended up liking how it turned out anyway but what was my response to her comment?  "Shutter Speed Richelle, Shutter Speed" =) Shutter Speed is simple.  Just think about it like this…the slower shutter speed the more movement I have in my picture, the faster the shutter speed, the less movement I have in my picture.  All it is is how fast you want your shutter of your camera to open and close! Of course, there are other factors such as available light that play into how fast or slow your shutter speed will be, but for now, just keep it simple. So what’s considered a slow shutter speed?  Rule of thumb would be that you never want to shoot below 1/60th of a second when you’re shooting people or else you’ll get what’s called camera shake (a blurry photo basically) and generally speaking, you don’t want that.  For now a great way to start off is by shooting in Shutter Speed Priority…it’s the Tv dial on your camera.  Turn your dial to that and the camera decides all your settings but you decide on the shutter speed. Ok so back to the fair. This first shot is one I took at 1/13th of a sec.  Granted these pics don't really land in my top 10 but they're good for show & tell =)

1/5th of a second...

and finally  at .3 of a second.

Remember how I mentioned that shutter speed is how fast you want the shutter of your camera to open and close?!  Well what I wanted to do in these shots was capture the motion of the ferris wheel.  At 1/13th of a second I was still getting a pretty "still" image so all I did was change my shutter speed to go slower and slower.  Simple right?!  Oh and btw, this shots would've looked way cooler on a tripod. **One quick note to keep in mind: notice how the longer I left my shutter open, the brighter the shot?  Well that's cuz the longer the shutter is open, the light enters the camera** I always tell people, don't be scared to play with your camera settings.  Yeah it could be tough sometimes, but like the cliche says...practice makes perfect. =) My next post will be on Aperture so stay tuned! =) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - -- - - - - --- Don't forget!  Our "Great Names Derive from Great Inspiration" contest deadline has been moved!!  The new deadline to submit your entries is now October 1st.  That gives everyone a good two months of inspiration! =)

If you want more information on our contest click here!

For our latest Wedding Day Slideshow, Click Here!

If you'd like to inquire about our services, email us at Weddings@johnlauren.com

If you have any questions you'd like to ask us, we'll do our best in answering them for you!  email us at John@johnlauren.com or Lauren@johnlauren.com

For the past two or three years between July and August, Lauren and I like to spend at least one day (i.e. 2-3!) out of those two months indulging ourselves in oh so "deep fried everything and anything you could probably think of" goodness.  What could you possibly deep fry besides chicken?!!  How bout, Snickers, Oreos, Twinkies, White Castle!, Avacados and even Frog Legs?!!!  Ok so we didn't eat ALL of that but they were readily available at the flip of the buck if we chose.  Diet??! What's that?!  As you could imagine that word gets thrown out the door during this day.  And where do we do this?!...the OC Fair!

  Here's Lauren just as we entered pondering what our next trip to the OC Fair will entail...

One of the things I got to do at the fair this year besides eat, eat and eat some more, obviously was take the trusty ole' camera.  **Disclaimer: Although Lauren is pregos, and it appears she is ordering or eating or scarfing all that food, we did SHARE ALL our meals!** =)

 

 

This shot was taken as we pulled into the parking lot.  I was so concentrated on getting in and finding spot that I almost missed this awesome light!  Gotta love the color of the sky when the sun sets!  I was super stoked when we we got this and the best part is that minus a bump in contrast and blacks, this shot is basically straight out of the camera!

See ya later OC Fair...till next year! =)

Check in tomorrow for some Shutter Speed Tips featuring more colorful pics of the Fair as examples!

Also, our "Great Names Derive from Great Inspiration" contest deadline has been moved!!  I totally forgot about all the holidays leading up to our original Dec 1st deadline to submit your entries so the NEW DEADLINE is now October 1st.  That gives everyone a good two months of inspiration! =)

If you want more information on our contest click here!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - -- - - - - ---

For our latest Wedding Day Slideshow, Click Here!

If you'd like to inquire about our services, email us at Weddings@johnlauren.com

If you have any questions you'd like to ask us, we'll do our best in answering them for you!  email us at John@johnlauren.com or Lauren@johnlauren.com

 

 

Lauren and I love shooting Engagement Sessions with our Wedding clients because for one, we get to totally break the ice with the couple and two, they get to break the ice with our cameras! =)  It's never easy being yourself with 4-5 gimongous cameras in your face so to us, it's always better they see it before the wedding than during =)  So when it was Dina+Chris' turn, not only did they eventually get used to the cameras, but we got to see and capture a side of them that reminds us why we do what we do. That picture is one of my favorite shots of the entire shoot.  It was taken towards the later part of the shoot and for me, it was literally the climax of one of our most fun and rewarding sessions yet.  As I was saying, Dina+Chris are one of the most gentle couples we know and that shot to me, absolutely shows it.  What makes this one of my favorite shots is that you don't have to see Dina's eyes in that picture to tell how safe, secure and in love she is with Chris. You don't need to see what's happening around them because she's safe and at specific moment, engulfed in Chris' arms...nothing else matters.  For Chris, his non expression, is expression enough.  I can't tell you how excited I was to have caught that moment! =) These last two shots top off, as we said, one of our most fun and rewarding sessions yet! A fun ring shot that we go heading back to the car... To Dina+Chris...it was a privilege being able to capture the emotion and love you guys share for each other.  You guys were awesome and we hope that you enjoy your slideshow as much as enjoyed capturing it on camera. *****CLICK HERE FOR DINA+CHRIS' SLIDESHOW***** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget! Our "Great Names Derived From Great Inspiration" contest is under way and you have till Dec 1st submit your entries to Contest@johnlauren.com.  The winner will receive a $100 restaurant GC! To see more of our Weddings click here!